Seventh-day Adventist Church

2003 NAB Offering Call

“Becoming Faithful Stewards”

Bate: November 15, 2003 Appeal: Local Church Budget
A FALSE STONE OR THE TRUE ROCK

If you visit the Pacific island of Yap you may notice very large stones near the traditional meeting areas. These pancake-like stones were used in the ancient Yap culture as money, and many of them are over ten feet in diameter. Many of these fascinating rocks have holes in the middle of them so they could be carried from place to place on a wooden pole.

According to Yap folk history, the males of the island would travel great distances to another island group, where they would painstakingly carve out the money stones from limestone caves. Then they would place them on bamboo rafts and sail them back to their home islands.

We may think it strange in our age that people would place such value on a large limestone disk. But how often we put our trust in that which is perishable. Commenting on this idea Ellen White states: “With many, the things of this world obscure the glorious view of the eternal weight of glory that awaits the saints of the Most High. They cannot distinguish the true, the real, the enduring substance, from the false, the counterfeit, the passing shadow. Christ urges them to remove from before their eyes that which is obscuring their view of eternal realities. . . He calls upon them to be able to say for themselves that the gains and advantages of this life are not worthy to be compared with the riches that are reserved for the diligent, rational seeker for eternal life.” (Review & Herald, June 23, 1904)

Appeal Text: “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord God.” [Psalm 20:7 NIV]